Relationship between three palliative care outcome scales

Area of Science:

• Palliative Care
• Oncology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Assessing palliative outcomes is crucial but measurement challenges persist.
• Core components of palliative outcome measures remain unidentified.
• This study addresses the need for clarity in measuring outcomes for advanced cancer patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the relationships between three widely used palliative outcome scales.
• To identify the factorial structure of these combined scales in advanced cancer patients.
• To refine outcome measurement in palliative care.

Main Methods:

• Patients receiving palliative care were interviewed using the EQoL, POS, and Herth Hope Index scales.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were employed to analyze scale relationships and structure.
• Advanced statistical techniques were used to validate a refined measurement model.

Main Results:

• Exploratory analysis revealed variability explained by factors within individual scales (EQoL: 75%, POS: 63%, Hope Index: 69%).
• Combined analysis initially identified five factors, reduced to four (self-sufficiency, positivity, symptoms, spiritual) via confirmatory analysis.
• A final 11-item model with improved fit was achieved after removing the spiritual factor.

Conclusions:

• Three core factors—self-sufficiency, positivity, and symptom management—were identified as important palliative outcomes.
• These identified factors offer a simpler approach to measuring outcomes in clinical settings.
• The findings contribute to more effective and streamlined palliative care research and practice.